The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) yesterday said the Alishan Highway (Provincial Highway No. 18) was scheduled to reopen to large buses on Friday, adding that motorists would be asked to slow down near construction sites.
Large buses have been barred from using Alishan Highway since August last year after typhoon Morakot devastated many sections of the highway.
The highway was reopened to sedans in October. In November, the DGH lifted the ban on medium-sized buses on the freeway.
PHOTO: CNA
In February this year, the DGH allowed large buses to use the section between Chuko (觸口) and Hudi (湖底), but tourists had to transfer to medium-sized buses to get to Alishan Forest Park.
The DGH said that starting on Friday, large buses would be able to access all of the Alishan Highway between 7am and 7pm.
As three road sections on the highway are still under construction, drivers must observe speed limits of 20kph when passing through these areas.
The closure of Provincial Highway No. 18 to large tour buses has taken a heavy toll on tourism at Alishan.
Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed that about 194,000 people visited Alishan in March 2008. The number dropped to zero after August last year. Only 94,000 visited Alishan in March this year. However, the number rebounded to 133,000 in April because of the cherry blossom season, but dropped again in May to 85,000.
Meanwhile, the DGH said the Jiasian Bridge (甲仙大橋) on the South Link Highway (Provincial Highway No. 20), which collapsed when typhoon Sinlaku struck in 2008, will be reopened on Saturday.
The new Jiashian Bridge is a long-span steel arch bridge that is 21m in width and 300m in length. The rails on the bridge feature designs and colors of taro and bamboo shoots, the two main vegetables grown in Jiasian Township (甲仙).
Construction of the bridge cost about NT$570 million (US$17.9 million) and was originally scheduled to be completed in October.
In related news, the Tourism Bureau has designed six tour routes to help boost tourism in disaster-struck areas in Chiayi, Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Nantou and Taitung counties.
The bureau said each route is designed for one-day bus tours and the routes link up the main tourist attractions.
The counties will be asked to submit proposals on how they plan to market the routes.
Each route will receive a subsidy of NT$2 million from the bureau, said Chen Kuei-hua (陳貴華), chief of the bureau’s national travel division, adding that a one-day bus fare would cost less than NT$100.
The service is scheduled to be launched in August.
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